Improvement in car-couplings



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SETE S. WATROUS AND WILLIAM GERBER, OF FREMONT CENTRE, MICH;

IMPROVEMENTIN CAR-COUPLINGS;

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 217,757, dated July Q2,1879; application filed February 25, 1879.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that we, SE'IH S. WATROUS and WILLIAM GERBER, of FremontCentre, in the county of Newaygo and State of Michigan, have invented anew and Improved Car- Uonpler, of which the following is aspecification.

Figure 1 is a plan, partly in section, of the draw-head and couplers.Fig. 2 is a side elevation. Fig. 3 is a View of the under side of thedraw-head.

Similar letters of reference sponding parts.

The invention is an improvement in the class of coupling devices whichconsist of pivoted hooks.

The improvement consists in the arrangement oi' the coupling bars orhooks we. employ, as hereinafter described and claimed.

The hooks or coupling-bars A A are pivoted in different but parallelplanes on bolts a a', that pass vertically through the draw-head B. Thnswhen the hooks are brought together by springs C G one lies above theother, as shown in Figs. l and 2. This adapts them to engage or lockwith other similarly-arranged hooks of another draw-head.

The hooks are opened, Fig. 3, by dogs or cams E, fixed on pin b, towhose lower end a lever-arm, F, is attached, as shown.

In coupling, the bars are forced apart, as shown in Fig. 3, by thecoupling-bars of the opposite car, and at once resume the position shownin Fig. 1, locking with the ends of the (pposite bars through inuence ofthe springs indicate corre- To uncouple, thedogs E E are turned againstthe inner ends of the bars by the lever F, as shown in Fig. 3, so thatthe hooked ends are thrown apart and the engaging-bars of the oppositecar released.

These levers may be worked and the cars nncoupled from either side, orfrom the top of the car, by simple rod-connections.

The draw-head is provided with holes d d for pins when the pin-and-linkcoupling is used, as may be the case when the one car is provided with4this coupling` while the other is not. That it may have an upward anddownward motion, be raised or lowered, the drawhcad is hinged, as shownat G, to the drawbar H, and is provided with a hook or staple, I, in itsupper face, by which it may be raised by means of rod, lever, chain, orrope. This adjustment is necessary at times when one draw-head is loweror higher than another; but the draw-head may be constructedadvantageously without the hinge, as shown at G.

One cam E is arranged to act on the upper hook, and the other cam E onIthe lower hook, so that when the pin blv is rotated the cams act inopposite directions and press the arms A A apart.

We do not claim a cam arranged to act simultaneously on two oppositepivoted hooks within a draw-head 5 but What we do claim is- Thecombination of the two cams E E,pro jecting in opposite directions, andthe pin b', on which the same are fixed, with the coupling-hooks A A,pivoted within the draw-head on vertical pins a', but in dierenthorizontal planes, and the arm F, fixed on the pin b', all as shown anddescribed, for the purpose specified.

SETH S. WATROUS. WILLIAM GERBER.

Witnesses:

EDWD. E. EDWARDS, WARREN O. TUXBURY.

